"The Boston Celtics have no intentions of trading point guard Rajon Rondo, president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said Thursday, adding he wasn't sure where the rumors insinuating he wanted to acquire New Orleans star Chris Paul originated this week.

After noting that he wanted to keep his core together and later identifying that core as the team's four All-Stars (Rondo, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett), Ainge was asked point blank if he was planning to trade Rondo.

"I'm not, no," Ainge said during a press conference with coach Doc Rivers to discuss the team's post-lockout agenda.

"I'll talk to Rondo," Ainge added. "But I won't tell you what I'll say to him. Rondo will be fine, Rondo knows that we love him. He knows that we like him. He's excited to come back and play basketball, in my opinion. He gets a lot of attention. He's a great player. There's a lot of people that call me and ask me about Rondo. So, how these rumors get out, it's unfortunate, but we didn't leak those rumors out. We'll deal with it. He'll be fine." "